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Re: About to give up

What a beautiful baby girl! She looks like she's developing just fine; she's even smiling for the camera (or more likely for her mommy who loves her so much and takes such good care of her)!

I just wanted to encourage you not to worry too much about the length of feedings. Some babies are really efficient, and it is certainly possible that your little one is. My son (who had the disorganized suck and was spending one and a half hours taking three ounces from an easy bottle) became a quick nurser once he mastered latching on and transferring milk. I remember nursing him at a friend's house (once we could actually go out in public since I didn't have to pump all his food!), and she commented on how fast his nursing was. It worried me at the time because I wondered if he was getting enough right at that moment. We were, however, still doing a weigh-feed-weigh routine on almost all his feedings, so after that I timed a couple just to see. After he had gone about 4.5 hours (a long sleep stretch in the morning), he nursed 7.9 oz in less than 20 minutes. His next feeding (three hours later) was 3.4 oz in about ten minutes. (He was about 2 and 1/2 months old.) I had a good supply but was not dealing with oversupply or overactive let down (I was nursing exclusively on one breast), and these are the numbers for a baby who had been spending 90 minutes getting three ounces out of a bottle three weeks earlier.

How sensitive is the baby scale you mentioned? Even if it measures down to half an ounce you can get a good ballpark figure of what your baby takes in when she nurses over a period of time (the weigh-feed-weigh routine). I'm sure I weighed my little guy longer than I needed to for his sake, but I did it for my sake. We had had such a hard time feeding him at all when he was born, I needed to see that my body was nourishing him wonderfully.

I will say about the sleeping, that my little guy did start to stretch out his feedings when he started nursing so well, and his little body put him to bed early in the evening (and often woke him up a lot during the night). Nevertheless, I usually fed him before I went to sleep at night. It got him some extra calories and me a little less fullness on that one side. We didn't do seven hour stretches, but if he wanted to have five hour stretches in the evening, I let him. I did find that he sometimes nursed better when he was so well rested and my breast was more full. (That could have just been peculiar to his personality and my one-sided nursing situation, of course.) I did ask the doctor if it was harmful to wake him up to feed him, and he was a little stunned at first because that's not the normal question people ask. He said that as long as he got several good sleep periods, it was okay to wake him up but to try to keep it to just a feeding if he was soundly asleep and seemed inclined to remain that way. That's what we did for a long time, and it worked well for us.

It really does sound like you and your daughter are doing well. I'm glad you're reaching out for support, and thanks so much for putting in a picture of your little one. She really does look beautiful.

I breast milk fed my Blossom for fifteen months (after exclusively pumping for thirteen). My Bud (nineteen months) is still nursing directly (after a rough start that included a few months of pumping and supplementing with mommy's milk).

Re: About to give up

So she's still only having about one large lime green poop a day but plenty of pees. I am going to try to get in to see the lactation consultant tonight, b/c when I pumped this morning, I only got 4.5oz, and had been getting 7-8 each morning. She was very lazy with eating last night and seemed to be up almost every 1.5 - 2 hours. (12, 2, 3:30 5, 6...) but was very lazily eating at all times.262078_2105959921337_1015689808_2452594_304240_n.jpg

Re: About to give up

This morning I pumped 6.5 oz, and when we saw the lactation consultant last night, my DD ate 1.5 oz in about 7 minutes. She didn't seem to want to eat again. I fed her again around 10PM. then at 1AM, then at 4AM, and again at 6AM. She had a massive blowout of more yellow/green stool while visiting the LC, and had 2 heavy wets at both the 1AM and 6AM feed. The LC thinks her latch is fine and that she just wasn't very hungry last night. If my husband is off work, we're going to see his family and I will have 4 days of EBF with DD so hopefully that will help. She has a follow-up appt. with the Ped. on 7/5 so we'll see where her weight is again then. Thanks for all the support. I am so anti-pumping and really hope I can stay calm enough to keep going.

Re: About to give up

Honestly, from everything you write here, you have nothing at all to worry about. If she's latching well, don't sweat it. The color of stool could be a variant of normal. I think you are doing a great job!

Re: About to give up

that's why I'm concerned... she doesn't seem to be latching well. The LC said she is, but she only drank 1.5oz in 7 minutes, and I think it's because of a shallow latch, that she adopted from back when I had a SERIOUS oversupply. She seems to want to sleep more than eat, and only seems happy and actively alert 3-4 hours a day. She is more often "quiet alerrt" and that is also rare. She rarely stays awake longer than 1-2 hours at a time and sleeps like mad. I know you all are probably thinking I'm nuts, but she NEVER seems hungry to me. IE: she's only cried and then eaten 2-3 times her whole life. Everyone says it's because whenever she fusses I offer her the breast so she never has a chance to get hungry, but I doubt that, as there are other times that she's obviously been hungry but unable to successfully latch and instead took a bottle. I will keep on keeping on and hope that this long weekend with her helps!

Re: About to give up

So I still haven't given up, but am still very concerned. DD still is sleeping most of the day and all night (9 or 10 until 5AM or sometimes I even have to wake her). Daycare is waking her 1-2 times a day most days to feed, every 3 hours. She went to see a neurologist and he said it's too soon to really tell anything definitive, but that she looked good for her age. She also has an ASD and an appt. w/ ped. cardiologist next month. I wonder if perhaps it's because of the ASD that she's so sleepy and can't stay alert enough to eat. Also, she's very congested and coughs a lot. Ped. said it was a cold, but she's had it almost 2 weeks. Finally, she has to go for PT evaluation for Torticollis, so maybe her Tort is contributing to her unwillingness to BF'ng well, along with the congestion. This is so hard!

Re: About to give up

Just wanted to post an update. My DD now has to have PT once a week for Torticollis. She just seems sooo uncomfortable most of the time. She seems to flip-flop back and forth between high and low tone, and often is VERY restless when sleeping. Much is likely to do with the fact that she likes to nurse to sleep and then goes to bed on full stomach and I believe has silent reflux. Still feel very trapped b/c she seems to want to cluster feed and be fussy every night, but trying to enjoy this time, in despite everything else!